The striker was perhaps seen as being past his sell-by date when he arrived at City from Malaysian side Selangor but his £500,000 price tag proved good business when Martin O'Neill brought him back to England in August 1997.

Cottee's big chance came with West Ham United but he made his name mainly through an eight-year spell on Merseyside with Everton. A natural goalscorer with pace and power, Cottee returned to Upton Park following his successful stay with the Toffees before embarking on his career in Malaysia.

Keen to prove people wrong on his return to England with Leicester, Cottee went on to spend almost three years as a Fox, scoring 27 league goals in 66 league starts for the club. It took him some time to get up to full speed, thanks to a loan spell with Birmingham City. He'd only been at Filbert Street for three months, making just two appearances in all competitions before signing for the Blues on a temporary deal.

With his fitness up to scratch, Cottee returned to Leicester and was thrown into the starting line-up for a daunting game at Old Trafford against Manchester United. Nevertheless, he bagged what proved to be the winning goal and he went on to be a regular start that season - even scoring two goals against his former club West Ham on the final day of the season.

He was the club's Player of the Year in the 1998-98 season, forming a strong partnership with Emile Heskey in attack and earned a contract extension. Goals in both legs of the semi-final League Cup clash with Sunderland in 1999 helped City to the final, although they were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur in the final. Cottee bagged his 200th league career goal with City, ironically against Spurs just two weeks after the League Cup final.

Cottee won his first, and only, cup-winning medal with the Foxes when they defeated Tranmere Rovers in the final of the League Cup but his stay at City wasn't far from the end. He went on to play for Norwich City and try his hand as player-manager of Barnet before taking up a career in the media.